It’s not often I write a blog post not directly tied to a technology or lesson learned, but today is special and there are some things that needed to be said about a very special professional. Someone who has truly touched my life in meaningful and lasting ways…

Approximately a month ago Citrix announced its intent to spin off the GoTo business, which was accompanied with a plan to eliminate 1,000 jobs. Unfortunately for many of our friends and colleagues at Citrix, this was the second layoff of the year for Citrix, having just announced and laid off 900 employees in January. Big corporate restructures are always difficult, and it’s sad to see so many lives and families affected by these changes. I, and many of my followers, know others affected by these restructures. And, it’s uncommon that any announcements are made about those affected to properly acknowledge their incredible contributions.

I am saddened to learn that today was Rachel Berry’s last day at Citrix due to the announced lay-offs and corporate restructuring currently underway at Citrix. I know I may never know the full story, and for that reason I hold no ill feelings to Citrix or anyone involved. I partly understand how these things work, but I wish it could have been different with Rachel. She is truly a one of a kind individual, technologist, and in recent years, an amazing Product Manager! As part of the Citrix Technology Professional (CTP) program, we get a lot of exposure to Product Managers, and I know there are a lot of good (and great) PMs within Citrix! This is not to discredit any other PMs or others affected by these layoffs, but Rachel was truly unique and one of a kind as it related to her interaction with the community and specifically the CTPs. The way Rachel would bring information to bear, both internally, and externally was truly inspiring. During her time at Citrix, she personally published 110 blog posts to Citrix Blogs and recently launched her own personal blog earlier this year. Thank you Rachel! I know everyone dealing with HDX-anything has read your blogs!

For those that don’t know Rachel well, here’s a little bit about her, taken from her personal blog:

Rachel Berry (@rhbBSE) joined Citrix from Siemens PLM where she worked as a CAD-architecture engineer, specialising in CAD and PLM joint-product development with Autodesk, Siemens NX, Ansys Workbench, SolidWorks and others. Rachel holds a PhD in Electromagnetic Field Simulation and Image Processing from Cambridge University. Rachel is now Product Manager for HDX 3D Pro Graphics at Citrix. Follow Rachel on @rhbBSE or her deprecated Citrix CAD Virtualisation blog: http://blogs.citrix.com/author/rachelbe/ In 2004 Rachel was awarded the Hamilton Prize by Cambridge University. “The Hamilton Prize is awarded to the candidate submitting the best report embodying research carried out in the University on the theory or practice of the physics or engineering of any aspect of communication, propagation, or signal processing, associated with electromagnetic radiation or wave propagation.”http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2009-10/special/06/135.html

Wow! What a resume highlight, diverse background and incredible skills!

Rachel has been inspiring and encouraging to many of us with less impressive backgrounds, learning about the ins and outs of graphics and visualization and how important it is for virtualizing apps and desktops. This simple blog post does not come close to expressing how much she has impacted the industry, Citrix, partners, and customers evaluating and deploying high end graphics with Citrix HDX. Thank you for everything you have done for the industry, making the world a better place for customers and partners taking on some of the biggest baddest challenges in our market!

While I am very sad to see you depart from Citrix, I am also tremendously excited for whatever is next in your journey! Knowing your background, I’m confident it will be incredibly remarkable and exciting wherever you go!

Be encouraged! Your next opportunity to share your knowledge with the industry is just a phone call away!

If Rachel Berry has positively impacted your personal or professional life, please feel free to leave a comment below. The comments are moderated, but I will be monitoring them closely, and I’m confident Rachel will be encouraged by reading about how you’ve been affected by her work. As is common in these situations, Rachel will likely be unable to comment about the circumstances of her departure from Citrix.

Thanks again Rachel for everything you’ve done during your time at Citrix. I look forward to seeing when and where our paths will cross in the future!

Take care and be encouraged for your next adventure!
—@youngtech